The award was founded in 1995 to recognize outstanding performances in movie and prime time television.

Nominations for the awards come from two committees, one for film and one for television, each numbering 2,100 members of the union, randomly selected anew each year, with the full membership (165,000 as of 2012) available to vote for the winners.

[2] On December 4, 2017, it was announced that the awards show would have its first host in its then twenty-four year history, with actress Kristen Bell presiding over the ceremony.

[6] It is 16 inches (41 cm) tall, weighs over 12 pounds (5.4 kg), is cast in solid bronze, and produced by the American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank, California.

(Minimum of 3 wins) Gillian Anderson (1) Elizabeth Debicki (1) Felicity Huffman (1) Chandra Wilson (1) (Minimum of 10 nominations) David Hyde Pierce (8) Lorraine Bracco (3) Drea de Matteo (1) Nancy Marchand (1) Eric Stonestreet (3) Ed O'Neill (1) Sofía Vergara (3) Jimmy Smits (4) Rick Shroeder (1) Sharon Lawrence (1) Peter Boyle (2) Brad Garrett (1) Doris Roberts (2) Debra Messing (2) Alan Alda (1) Stockard Channing (2) Lily Tomlin (1) George Clooney (2) Sally Field (1) Josh O'Connor (1) Elizabeth Debicki (2) Claire Foy (2) Gillian Anderson (1) Helena Bonham Carter (1) Emma Corrin (1) Michael Richards (3) Jennifer Aniston (2) Julia Garner (3) Robert Downey Jr. (1) Lucy Liu (1) Jerry Orbach (1) Anthony Carrigan (1) Henry Winkler (1) William Shatner (2) Michelle Dockery (1) Alex Borstein (3) Kim Cattrall (2) Winona Ryder (1) Brett Goldstein (2) Juno Temple (1) Mandy Patinkin (1) Steve Carell (1) Reese Witherspoon (1) Kieran Culkin (2) Matthew Macfadyen(1) Jeremy Strong (1)